Java Reflection: get instances of a given class found by entering its name?

java oop class reflection instance
Tom picture Tom · Feb 21, 2011 · Viewed 13.1k times · Source

Is it possible to get all instances of a class by entering this class's name as a string?

Something like this?

var instances = Reflection.findClass("com.someone.MyClass").getInstances();

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

Answer

Jon Skeet picture Jon Skeet · Feb 21, 2011

No, there's nothing like that available. If you hook into the debugging API you may be able to do it, but not when running "normally".

Related questions

Can we instantiate an abstract class?

During one of my interview, I was asked "If we can instantiate an abstract class?" My reply was "No. we can't". But, interviewer told me "Wrong, we can." I argued a bit on this. Then he told me to try …

Read More
Can we instantiate an abstract class directly?

I have read we can only instantiate an abstract class by inheriting it, but we cannot instantiate it directly. However, I saw we can create an object with the type of an abstract class by calling a method of another …

Read More
Java: Static Class?

I have a class full of utility functions. Instantiating an instance of it makes no semantic sense, but I still want to call its methods. What is the best way to deal with this? Static class? Abstract?

Read More